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Knowing that it wasn’t directed towards me, there was no need to concern myself unnecessarily. I calmly spoke.

“The Emperor has resurrected the Fogwigg near the northern part of the Great Forest. And he is now approaching in the direction of the World Tree. Though it actually appeared to be more of a fusion than a resurrection.”

“So, what do you mean, how in the world did the Emperor resurrect Fogwigg?”

“Don’t you get it? That creature is still approaching in the direction of the World Tree. It seems certain that the World Tree is its objective, but it’s hard to predict how quickly it will reach the World Tree since its speed is accelerating. That’s the entirety of what can be explained about the current situation.”

The Mad King fell into silence. I shifted my gaze to the chieftain and spoke.

“There’s no need for further explanations, Chieftain. We must stop it. Gather all your forces immediately.”

The chieftain remained silent for a moment, then finally spoke.

“Everyone, be quiet.”

At that single word, the restless beastmen fell silent. The Chieftain fixed his slitted pupils on me.

“I understand your words. However, how can we trust you?”

“……”

“The Fifth Lord comes to us and tells us that the Emperor of Santea is scheming something, and then you come to us and tell us that the Emperor will now destroy Adessa. How can we not be suspicious?”

Well, from the Chieftain’s perspective, this situation would undoubtedly be confusing and doubtful.

All of a sudden, a Lord of Calderic was saying that the Emperor had resurrected Fogwigg out of nowhere and was going to destroy the Great Forest.

“Do you want to claim that we orchestrated this?”

“Even so, there might be intentions to take advantage of this situation. Since when did Calderic and Adessa have such a close alliance? What reason could there be for you to be so proactive in helping us?”

I clicked my tongue in frustration.

“Don’t ask me offhandedly, Chieftain. We have no idea how the continent’s power structure would change if Adessa falls, so this is not just your problem.”

The Chieftain narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, that’s true. However, I still lack sufficient grounds to trust you.”

Ah, this bastard.

I understood that from the Chieftain’s perspective; it was a delicate matter that required caution. But in such an urgent situation, if he kept responding like that, I couldn’t help but get frustrated.

“Hey, Chieftain. Let’s stop going in circles like this. So, what do you suggest we do? If we head north immediately, you can quickly confirm whether my words about Fogwigg approaching the World Tree were true or not.”

“……”

“You only have two choices. Either turn us into enemies right here and now and try to stop Fogwigg with the depleted forces, or trust us and cooperate to stop the Fogwigg. Ah, perhaps there’s a third option. If all you want is for us to no longer interfere, then we’ll just leave immediately. After all, you are the ones who shot yourself in the foot. While you buy time, we will explore alternative solutions more leisurely.”

Finishing my statement, I stood still and stared at the Chieftain.

Whether my frustration and sincerity got through or not, the Chieftain’s expression relaxed.

“Very well. I suppose we have only one choice now. Seventh Lord, first of all, thank you for the important information. Will you assist Adessa?”

I nodded.

“Now we can communicate.”

I immediately got to the point.

At this point, we didn’t know exactly how far Fogwigg had traveled from where he’d been resurrected to the World Tree.

We didn’t know how fast he would have traveled.

After listening to my explanation, the Chieftain decided how to organize the forces to stop Fogwigg.

Time was pressing. There was no time to move troops in large numbers.

And in any case, the quantity of forces meant nothing when facing that creature.

The weak will be swept away like dust. What was needed was a single, powerful force, like the Thunder Lord.

A destructive force that would break through that ridiculously tough mass in one fell swoop.

“We must hurry to send word to the other tribes and the Elven chieftain.”

“No need to contact the Elves. The Second Lord has already gone in that direction.”

“Is that so? So the Second Lord is also here.”

“Yes. Just inform the other beastman tribes. And once this discussion is over, we’ll head straight to Fogwigg as planned, so we can also move immediately from this side.”

The individuals who were decided to move to Fogwigg’s location were me, the chief of staff, the chieftain, the beastmen warrior leader, a few elders, and the Mad King.

“Hehe, it’s truly absurd. How can such a wretched situation keep repeating? We should have taken down that dangerous Emperor long ago.”

The Mad King, who chuckled, asked the chief of staff.

“Is the Overlord not coming?”

“The Overlord is absent at the moment…”

“That’s some timing, Chief of Staff. Did the Overlord really not know the Emperor was going to do this, even what he was scheming?”

“What do you mean?”

The Mad King and the chief of staff locked eyes for a moment without saying a word.

“I mean, our Overlord is always a bit of a mystery.”

Mad King smirked and looked away first. Then she spoke sarcastically, this time to the Chieftain.

“Udakbat, why don’t you, as Chieftain, sacrifice yourself to the World Tree this time, just as Igrel did?”

The chieftain responded without even blinking.

“If that’s the best way, I can do it anytime.”

“If it’s just empty words, who can’t do that? You disgusting hypocrites.”

“Ignel! Shut up!”

One of the elders of the beastmen shouted impatiently.

The Mad King made a gesture of flicking her ear in response.

“Ignel, calm down. Don’t you know the state of the World Tree? Besides, because of the reckless attempt to amplify our power at that time, if we were to use such methods again, it would result in the complete destruction of the core.”

In response to the Chieftain’s words, Ignel snorted and replied.

“Before anything else, let’s get real here. Your abilities are way below par. Do you honestly think being absorbed by the World Tree would even make a damn difference, let alone match half of Igrel’s power?”

“You’re right about that. Igrel was the greatest warrior of all.”

As I observed the clan leader dealing with Ignel, I thought he had remarkable patience.

Perhaps due to the urgency of the situation, the Mad King stopped sulking when the Chieftain responded with indifference.

But the World Tree was actually in such a state?

Listening to their conversation, I roughly understood the situation in Adessa.

It seemed that absorbing the power of Igrel, Ignel’s brother, had put a considerable burden on the core of the World Tree.

In other words, it didn’t seem possible to use that method again in the current situation.

“Let’s move.”

Soon, the beastmen brought in a huge bird that looked like a hawk.

Hawkdi. They inhabited the Adessa Great Forest, and the beastmen tamed them as a means of transportation.

Kroooh!

As the Hawkdis approached, Ti-Yong let out a roar.

The frightened Hawkdis flapped their wings and went into a frenzy.

“Hey, stop fooling around.”

Knowing that the wyvern was just being mischievous, I tapped its neck.

After completing all the preparations, we began to move right away.

***

Hawkdis were fast, but not as fast as the wyverns, so we had to match their speed.

They traveled for quite a while in the direction that Fogwig would have taken, and then–

“…My God.”

The beastmen looked down at the carnage below and gasped in shock.

Underneath the traces of something enormous being dragged away, there is a dark and sticky aura that engulfs the surrounding forest.

It was an eerie and grotesque sight that couldn’t be simply described as ruins.

I couldn’t help but stiffen my expression as I looked at it.

It’s already traveled this far?

The scenery we were currently witnessing was the aftermath of Fogwigg passing through the forest.

It meant that the creature had already moved beyond this place.

“Chieftain, how much farther is it to the World Tree from here?”

The Chieftain responded to my question.

“It won’t take us more than half a day with the speed we’re flying.”

It’s so close…

When I and the chief of staff began our journey, Fogwigg’s speed was certainly not at this level.

However, it seems that the creature continued to accelerate as it moved with its massive size.

There was no further conversation.

The beastmen, seemingly aware of the gravity of the situation, took the lead and moved along the dark path.

And soon enough, we came face to face with the creature.

“Looks like he’s gotten even bigger.”

The chief of staff spoke as he observed the distant, black, gigantic mass.

For now, the creature seemed to be motionless, standing in its place.

I looked back at the beastmen. The impression of solemnity was firmly etched on their faces. The chieftain and the Mad King were no different.

Fogwigg was a presence that nearly brought destruction to their homeland.

And for the Mad King, it was a being that had taken away the life of her brother. It was a natural reaction.

“The elves haven’t arrived yet. Should we strike first?”

“Yes, it seems there’s no time to wait.”

I nodded and spoke to the chieftain.

“There is a spot on Fogwig’s upper part that emits a purple glow. The emperor’s body is buried inside.”

“You mean it’s a weakness?”

“Yes. All we have to do is kill the body and the great scourge will disappear without a trace.”

The beastmen prepared for battle. There was no need for elaborate strategies at the moment.

Just concentrate the attack on a single point and let the Emperor’s body be revealed.

“Do you know how it attacks?”

I answered the chieftain’s question.

“There was no counterattack when we fought it. How did Fogwigg behave when you encountered it in the past?”

“It would release its body parts and shoot them in all directions. We need to be cautious of that much, at least…”

“Why are you still hesitating? Just crush it!”

The Mad King drew her greatsword and advanced forward, charging straight toward Fogwigg.

Clang!

The Mad King’s blood-red sword struck down on Fogwigg.

Although she aimed precisely at the weakness, there was still no significant impact.

The Mad King frowned and withdrew the blade, which was only slightly embedded at the tip.

Following her, the Chieftain and other beastmen moved forward to join the fight.

When they saw that Fogwigg had not reacted to their attacks, they landed on its body, as did the Mad King.

“If it shows any sign of trying to do something, we must immediately retreat! Be cautious of attacks where it separates its body and launches projectiles!”

It looked like everyone was going to hit the weak spot at once. I and the Chief of Staff were still on our wyverns, observing the scene from above.

Since I couldn’t do much in terms of offense, I had the intention to step forward and assist in defense if anyone was in danger.

Quaaaaaang!

Along with a deafening roar, the attacks from the beastmen simultaneously struck Fogwigg’s weakness.

This time, it seemed like there was some impact as the vulnerable area of Fogwigg appeared noticeably concave.

Even more so than when the Mad King attacked.

“Chieftain, attack once again······!”

However, this time, a reaction emerged from Fogwigg.

As the mass showed an unusual response, I immediately shouted.

“Take cover!”

“Everyone, retreat!”

Simultaneously, the chieftain also shouted.

The next moment, as everyone jumped into the air, the surface of the mass, which had been shaking violently, exploded, sending fragments in all directions.